Growing Up
by Beniko-chan
Summary: As Goku gets older, he begins to change. Goku may not notice but the others slowly are seeing the differences. How will they handle Goku’s maturing?
1. Same old, same old

**Growing Up**

By Beniko-chan

Description: As Goku gets older, he begins to change. Goku may not notice but the others slowly are seeing the differences. How will they handle Goku's maturing?

Disclaimer: I do not own Saiyuki or any of its characters…. But if I did (sigh)

Rating: T, just to be on the safe side for later on.

OK well this is my first story so be kind, and enjoy it ;)

Chapter One: Same Old?

The sun's intensity was becoming unbearable as the foursome drove across the vast expanse of desert. Heat rays rose from the ground, blurring the monotonous desert landscape. It had been nearly a week since they had left the last village and Hakkai noted their supplies were running low. They had run into a few groups of demon assassins in the past few days and their appearances were getting annoying. Tempers were already high and the heat was not helping in the least. Sanzo and Gojyo were dangerously close to running out of cigarettes, Hakkai shuddered to think of the effects of a nicotine-less Sanzo would have on the restless troublemakers in the back. 'It's so nice and quiet…..too quiet' Hakkai thought as the minutes of unchanging scenery passed by.

"I'm hungry! When are we getting to the next town, Hakkai?" A shrill voice that could only be Goku as Hakkai heard shifting from the back. 'Ah, there goes the quiet' Hakkai chuckled to himself.

"We get there when we get there, now shut up you stupid ape!" Sanzo yelled back without opening his eyes. His face still remained placid in imitation of sleep despite his angry yelling. Hakkai noticed a vein on Sanzo's forehead began to pulse as Goku continued to whine about food.

"Don't you ever think of anything besides food?" Gojyo asked as he began to poke Goku in the side.

"I can't help it, I'm soooo hungry" Goku whined.

The poking continued. Hakkai began to count down in his head. …5….4….3…2…1…

"Knock that off you stupid Water Sprite!" Goku tried to swat away Gojyo's hand.

"I'm bored. And besides, what are you gonna do about it monkey!" They both stood up and started to yell into the other's face. The vein in Sanzo's forehead got a little bigger. As Goku shoved his forehead against Gojyo's as he yelled a response having to do with Gojyo being a perverted kappa.

"I'll kick your ass ya damn kappa!" Goku pushed against Gojyo's chest.

"I'd like to see you try stupid monkey!"

As Hakkai looked at the reflection in the rear-view mirror he saw Goku poke his finger into Gojyo's chest to accent each word he yelled back to the kappa. Hakkai began to avert his gaze from his rearview mirror to reassess their surroundings. Miles of desert stretched endlessly in every direction. The shouting continued to get louder from the backseat. This time when Hakkai looked back Gojyo had Goku in a headlock as Goku struggled to push the water sprite off. A second vein joined the first on Sanzo's face. Finally Hakkai thought it was time he stepped in before things got out of hand.

"Come on now, we should arrive at the next village in a day or two. It's really too hot to fight, why don't you two take a nap." Neither of the two paid him any attention as they continued to wrestle. 'Oh well, I tried'.

BANG! BANG!

Goku and Gojyo sprung apart from each other to avoid being hit. Twin smoking holes lay inches from where they lay.

"Shut up or I'll shut you up, permanently!" Turning to face them as he yelled, his gun still pointed at the loud-mouthed offenders.

"Now Sanzo, everyone's a little worked up right now, making threats won't help anything" Hakkai tried to sooth tempers so that peace could return, at least for a little while.

Sanzo continued to yell about idiot companions destroying his peace and quiet. Goku yelled right back that it's not his fault the back is cramped and it's hot and he's hungry. Gojyo seemed to bore of the argument and took to staring off into the distance. Hakkai chuckled to himself as he thought 'Same old, same old'.

End Chapter 1

So how was it? Good? Bad? An abomination against humanity? Let me know; review. Thanks


	2. A different perspective

**Chapter 2: A different perspective**

Gojyo POV

'Oh man, I don't believe this. This desert is never ending. God dammit we've been traveling through this place for over a week!' Gojyo stared out into space as they continued trekking across the desert. Supplies were running low and due to multiple demon attacks and the heat tempers were flaring. Gojyo reached for his pack of cigarettes… only to find that it was empty. Normally he wouldn't mind waiting until they reached the next town instead of having to ask his holy asshole for a loaner, but times were desperate god-dammit! Gojyo decided it was ok to swallow his pride, just this once.

"Hey Sanzo, wanna bum me a smoke?" he said as he looked into the rearview mirror hopefully.

"…no…"

"What! Oh come on, just one little smoke." Gojyo pleaded, trying to weasel one out of the old scrooge. His request was again denied. But Gojyo wasn't giving up that easy. Ten minutes of whining (and some blackmailing) later and Sanzo angrily tossed his pack of cigarettes to the back seat. Gojyo quickly snatched up the pack and opened them.

"What the fuck? It's empty!"

"I never said I had any left to give you, that was your foolish assumption" Sanzo replied in his you-fucking-moron-stop-wasting-my-time voice. Gojyo's eyes narrowed as he crunched up the pack in his fist.

"You god-damn prick! You could have told me you were out when I first asked you ten minutes ago and saved us both a lot of time!" A small vein started to throb on his forehead. Sanzo tried to conceal a small smirk, but he was failing miserably.

"Now now, we're almost to the next town. At least we should be according to this map" Hakkai's eyes shifted from ahead down to the map he held on his lap. Gojyo flopped back down onto the seat, still pissed about the previous incident. 'That God-damned tight assed priest. Why does he always have to be so difficult'? Next to him, Goku began to stir, roused from his sleep by the yelling.

"Hey…what's going on?" he groggily asked as he rubbed his eyes with his hands. Gojyo's pout suddenly turned into a smirk. 'Well if the monk's gonna be no fun, I might as well mess with the monkey'.

"Hakkai, how long until we reach the next town?" Goku leaned forward for a better look at the brown-haired driver.

"Just a little longer Goku, just amuse yourself until then", Hakkai smiled warm heartedly as Goku leaned back in his seat.

"But there's nothing to do. I'm bored…. And hungry"

"Well monkey, if you're so bored I know a fun game that could keep us entertained". Goku raised suspicious eyes to Gojyo.

"Huh, what game?"

"It's called sit-on-the-chimp!" and with that Gojyo promptly tried to sit on Goku while Goku struggled against him. Sanzo wasted no time in smacking both of them quite hard with the harisen.

"God-dammit it's too hot for you to be making all this noise! If you make so much as another sound I'll kill the both of you and leave you to rot out here!"

"Look everybody, there's the next town. We're finally here." Hakkai breathed a sigh of relief that they had reached their destination before things got too ugly. 'Thank goodness, Sanzo is looking absolutely terrifying. Why does he always have such a short fuse?' Gojyo muttered to himself as they began driving through the outskirts of the town. Soon Hakkai drove into an ally along one of the crowded streets and Hakuru promptly transformed back into a dragon and settled onto Hakkai's shoulder.

"Thank you for all your hard work my friend. You just rest for now" Hakkai said as he began to pet Hakuru.

"Oh man! This place looks sweet! Did ya see all the food stands?" Goku yelled, excitement clearly evident in his voice.

"Shut the hell up right now monkey. I'm not going to buy you anything. You're just going to have to wait for dinner." Sanzo told his charge as Goku's hopeful eyes landed on him.

"Besides Goku, it would be wise to scope out the town first and find a place to stay for the night before we decide where to eat. I'm sure it won't take very long. Then we can go shopping for supplies after dinner." Hakkai consoled Goku. He hoped they would soon find an inn with vacancies and a good restaurant.

"Ah, alright" Goku disappointedly agreed, though his stomach still growled as they passed some of the food stands during their exploration of the town. Gojyo's eyes immediately began to scan the streets for any perspective _company_ for tonight. 'After spending over a week in that damn desert, I'm sure as hell not spending tonight alone'. So far nothing had caught his eye, but damn he liked the wide variety of selections.

"I love large towns, so many choices" he smiled to himself as he saw Sanzo roll his eyes and Hakkai completely ignored his comment. He saw Goku run up ahead to stare at a booth selling meat buns. He turned and ran back to Sanzo, breaking out the big puppy dog eyes as he did so.

"Just one meat bun Sanzo, please! I'm starving!" Goku's eyes seemed to grow even larger (if possible) as he tugged on Sanzo's robes to emphasize the severity of his situation. 'Damn monkey, doesn't he ever think about anything besides food. God's, I'll bet he didn't even notice that vender lady check him out.' Gojyo however had noticed this and as he turned to look back at the booth he appraised the vendor. 'Hmm, not bad, early twenties, braided chestnut hair, decent rack and a slim waist. Why is she wasting her time checking out the chimp?' Just then he noticed that her attention was still focused on Goku as he hopped from one foot to the other still trying to persuade Sanzo to buy him some meat buns. Sanzo's multiple veins were pulsing and with a _WHACK_ he brought the harisen down firmly on Goku's head. Sanzo then continued walking while muttering to Hakkai about idiots leaving a twitching Goku lying on the ground in his wake. Gojyo spared one last look at the meat bun vendor before following after Sanzo and Hakkai. A few moments later Goku came running up to them still holding his throbbing head and sneaking glares at Sanzo. Hakkai and Sanzo were discussing the list of what supplies they would be needing and Gojyo just decided to block them out. His thoughts returned to the vendor. 'She must have thought the monkey looked like a little brother or something, or maybe she just thought he was cute in a kiddy way. There's no way a chick like that would actually check out the stupid-monkey'. Gojyo again looked down at Goku, whose face suddenly brightened up in excitement.

"Hey, there's an inn!" Goku's mood noticeably improved as they veered toward the establishment he was pointing at.

"Good as anywhere else I suppose" Gojyo thought aloud.

A group of giggling teenage girls up ahead caught Gojyo's attention. They were standing off to the side of the road outside of a shop, talking and giggling with each other. 'For being so young, they sure are developing well' Gojyo smirked as he thought of what they would look like in five years, but for now they were a little too young for his taste. That's when one of the girls pointed towards their group and they all began to blush as they giggled again. Gojyo gave them one of his best sexy smiles only to notice that they didn't react at all. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the one they were actually pointing at was Goku.

"I don't believe this" he complained to Hakkai. Hakkai simply raised an eyebrow in question to what exactly Gojyo found unbelievable. Gojyo pointed towards the giggling pack of girls who were still looking at Goku. Sanzo also had noticed the girls as his frown grew deeper and a vein started pulsing on his left temple. Goku again was completely oblivious to the bunch of whispering girls, although he did notice that his companions had slowed down their pace quite a bit.

"Hey guys, what's the hold up? I'm starving, lets check in and get some FOOD!" but when the others showed no sign of even hearing him, Goku decided just to go ahead and book some rooms for the night. The sooner they did that, the sooner they could eat! With the loss of visibility of Goku, the girls sighed sadly and began to walk away, chatting happily as they moved farther away from the still staring threesome.

"..."

"..."

"…um…"

"…."

"What was that about?"

End Chapter 2

Again, thanks for all the encouraging reviews on that last chapter. You know what I'm gonna ask you to do now, R & R. Just keep 'em coming.


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